Elderly couple found dead in Delhi home

New Delhi, March 3 (IANS) A 65-year-old real estate agent and his 60-year-old wife were found dead in their northwest Delhi home Tuesday in a case the police suspect to be of suicide. Lakha Singh was found hanging from the ceiling fan of their first floor house in Himgiri Enclave in Nihal Vihar. His wife Amarjeet Kaur was found dead near the bed on the ground floor when the police broke open the door in the afternoon.

According to police, Singh and his wife stayed with their third son Mahender, who was not at home for the past couple of days. The couple’s other two sons stay in Panipat in Haryana. The police said Singh’s sister who stays nearby got suspicious when the couple did not open the door even after repeated knocks.

The sister in her statement told police that she had gone to meet the couple on Monday but they did not open the door.

“I heard the sound of television and thought they must be watching some programme and decided not to disturb them. I again went to meet them in the evening and found that the television set was still on,” she told police.

“I returned to my home when they did not respond. This morning when they did not open the door I informed others in the family. We got more suspicious as a strange stink was emanating from the house, and we informed the police,” she said.

The investigating officer said: “The wife was lying near the double bed on the ground floor with a rope around her neck. It seems that she had hanged herself from the fan but since the rope could not hold her weight, she might have fallen down.”

“When we went upstairs, we saw Singh hanging from the ceiling fan. We brought down the body. He was also dead,” said the officer.

Parminder Singh, a relative of the deceased, said the couple had come to their younger son’s home some eight-nine days ago.

“They were very excited as Mahender was about to get married soon. They used to talk to his to-be wife. But I don’t know what caused them to take such an extreme step.”

The couple’s two sons, Satnam and Kuldeep - both real estate agents - have arrived from Panipat. The bodies of the couple have been sent to the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital for post-mortem examination.

The police have ruled out any foul play behind the deaths and no case has been registered so far.

“Our initial investigations suggest that Kaur, who used to keep ill, might have ended her life first under depression. After seeing his wife was dead, Singh may have taken his life in a state of shock. But nothing concrete can be said before the post-mortem is done,” said the police officer.